Local man overwhelmed by response to emotional video about Down syndrome

GREENFIELD - It was a moment he couldn't take back. Or so he thought.

After listening in a store to another father struggling to explain to his two young sons what Down syndrome is, Greenfield resident Robb Scott walked away mentally berating himself for not stepping in and helping to educate the boys in a positive way.

"I heard this voice in my head say ‘tell them, you can tell them exactly what it is," said Scott, while thinking of his five-year-old son Turner, who has Down's syndrome.

The man's son had been looking at a movie video called Where Hope Grows, which deals with the story about a man with Down syndrome.

When they boy asked: "What is Down syndrome?" the father, struggling for a proper response, said it was an illness of not knowing anything.

Not one to confront others publicly and unsure of how he should react, Scott walked away berating himself for not stepping up. He got in his car and started to drive around until eventually deciding he could still act on the moment by recording his emotions in a video on his Smartphone.

"This guy wasn't being malicious" and the child was being "sincere," Scott said. But he nonetheless walked away feeling like he had missed an opportunity to help educate "the next generation."

"I failed those kids, and more importantly, my son," he said.

"Down syndrome is literally the most beautiful thing that's ever happened in my life," he says, in the short video. "It's fun, it's brilliant, it's amazing, its funny, it's kind, it's loving, it's cuddly. They're great teachers, people with Down syndrome. It's not an illness. It's not even a disability."

After posting the video to Facebook, however, he soon realized his message had served to reach far more people than the three individuals he might have spoken to in the store. And Scott said the viral reaction has been overwhelming.

Between 6 p.m. Saturday (Feb. 20) and late Wednesday afternoon, the video had received 895,000 views and 10,633 shares.

He has also been interviewed by the CBC, ABC News and The Today Show.

And the numbers continue to grow.

"This has reached way beyond Down syndrome," Scott said. "What I did was in the moment. It was very reactional. I wasn't trying to be an advocate, I was just putting it out there.

"It is obviously reaching people."

hsullivan@trurodaily.com

Twitter: @tdnharry

After listening in a store to another father struggling to explain to his two young sons what Down syndrome is, Greenfield resident Robb Scott walked away mentally berating himself for not stepping in and helping to educate the boys in a positive way.

"I heard this voice in my head say ‘tell them, you can tell them exactly what it is," said Scott, while thinking of his five-year-old son Turner, who has Down's syndrome.

The man's son had been looking at a movie video called Where Hope Grows, which deals with the story about a man with Down syndrome.

When they boy asked: "What is Down syndrome?" the father, struggling for a proper response, said it was an illness of not knowing anything.

Not one to confront others publicly and unsure of how he should react, Scott walked away berating himself for not stepping up. He got in his car and started to drive around until eventually deciding he could still act on the moment by recording his emotions in a video on his Smartphone.

"This guy wasn't being malicious" and the child was being "sincere," Scott said. But he nonetheless walked away feeling like he had missed an opportunity to help educate "the next generation."

"I failed those kids, and more importantly, my son," he said.

"Down syndrome is literally the most beautiful thing that's ever happened in my life," he says, in the short video. "It's fun, it's brilliant, it's amazing, its funny, it's kind, it's loving, it's cuddly. They're great teachers, people with Down syndrome. It's not an illness. It's not even a disability."

After posting the video to Facebook, however, he soon realized his message had served to reach far more people than the three individuals he might have spoken to in the store. And Scott said the viral reaction has been overwhelming.

Between 6 p.m. Saturday (Feb. 20) and late Wednesday afternoon, the video had received 895,000 views and 10,633 shares.

He has also been interviewed by the CBC, ABC News and The Today Show.

And the numbers continue to grow.

"This has reached way beyond Down syndrome," Scott said. "What I did was in the moment. It was very reactional. I wasn't trying to be an advocate, I was just putting it out there.

"It is obviously reaching people."

hsullivan@trurodaily.com

Twitter: @tdnharry

Robb Scott of Greenfield has been overwhelmed at the response he has received after posting a video about Down Syndrome, in relation to his son Turner (at left), 5, who is pictured with his brother Griffin, 7.